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When it comes to cleaning up local sites contaminated with radiation, U.S. Sen. Josh Hawley is keeping his aim on the target.

In fact, Hawley brought a big gun to the range on Monday.

Fulfilling a promise he made to Hawley during his confirmation hearing in January, new Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Lee Zeldin accompanied Hawley to a public meeting at Bridgeton City Hall and then toured two sites in north St. Louis County.

At that gathering, Zeldin heard the facts about radioactive contamination at the two sites: the West Lake Landfill Superfund site and along the banks of nearby Coldwater Creek.

And he also heard the pain.

“I’ve seen so many people die,” Bridgeton resident Connie Usry told Zeldin. “And I’ve lost count of how many people we’ve buried.”

Usry, whose husband, Jim Usry, is chief of the Pattonville Fire Protection District, said the worrying about the contamination simply never stops.

“Every time our kids get sick, we wonder if it’s going to be something else” related to radiation, she said.

Kim Bakker, who lives in the area and works for SSM DePaul Hospital, told Zeldin that “this community deserves better.”

Bakker also blamed the federal government, which identified the possible contamination in 1990, for “a lack of transparency, and borderline dishonesty.”

When residents finished with their statements, Zeldin said he was moved by their testimonials.

Noting that although he has already visited several other EPA remediation sites, “this one just hits different.”

Calling Bridgeton “a community that has been left behind and needs help,” Zeldin instructed regional EPA Administrator Jim Macy to come up with an “ambitious timeline.”

Zeldin wants the report to outline what resources are needed to complete the cleanup, and what barriers still stand in the way.

Zeldin told residents the report, which he charged Macy with completing in three weeks, would be shared with the public.

“You deserve answers,” he said, then added, “Now I see why Senator Hawley invited me here do early.”

Zeldin said he was not worried that hefty cuts to the federal budget proposed by President Donald Trump would scuttle aid for the local sites. He said cuts actually would “free up more money for remediation issues.”

“We can quit spending money on studies to tell people they have a problem,” Zeldin said. “They should be spent on remediating the problem.”

Added Hawley, “We don’t have to go look for other crises; we have one right here.”

Hawley has been running point on legislation aimed at helping not only the two North County areas, but also a site in Weldon Springs where uranium was processed in the 1940 and 1950s.

Zeldin said Hawley’s dedication to the cause was obvious when Hawley began asking questions at Zeldin’s confirmation hearing.

Saying members of Congress often end up “reading bullet points” off a sheet of paper, Hawley instead “immediately launched straight into this topic as his No. 1 priority.”

“It wasn’t a bullet point,” Zeldin said, but an effort for which Hawley holds “incredible passion and conviction.”

In the last few years, Hawley has been running point for the area on the legislative side.

He is trying for a third time to get the federal government to get the three area sites included in the Radiation Exposure Compensation Act, known as “RECA.”

The law appropriated money to compensate those who were hurt by the nation’s nuclear production efforts in the 1940s and 1950s.

For decades, RECA has provided compensation to numerous radiation-contaminated states in the western U.S., whether from weapons tests or employment in the uranium industry.

But recently, Missouri and other states have been pushing to be included in the coverage. One such state in New Mexico, which is not covered even though it was the site of the 1945 Trinity atomic bomb test.

But in the past two attempts, the Senate-passed bill has not made it to the floor of the U.S. House for a full vote.

Given his comments at Monday’s meeting, Hawley is not wavering in his support and repeated his desire to get the expanded RECA legislation heard by the full U.S. House.

Last year, the measure stalled in the House when some Republican lawmakers — including U.S. Rep. Ann Wagner, R-Town and Country — complained about the bill’s cost.

At that time, Wagner responded that she has long been in favor of expanding RECA but simply was noting that others in the House had expressed reservations about the cost.

On Monday, Hawley said he is confident Wagner will support taking the measure to a full House vote. he also noted that he has recently received support from U.S. Rep. Jason Smith, a Republican from Salem who chairs the powerful Ways & Means Committee.

Hawley said residents in St. Louis and St. Charles counties were proud of their contributions to the American efforts in World War II and the Cold War.

“What I’m not proud of is that the federal government caused it, and then the federal government lied about it,” he said.

Hawley said he has been in regular contact with members of the U.S. House and is confident the bill will get to the full House for a vote.

Then Hawley fired an “or else” shot at his colleagues.

“If they think I’ve been a pain in the butt before,” he said, “they haven’t seen anything yet.”